Job Discussion Forums

[denise]

Depends on the school. My school's work-study students (and a lot of the assistants were work-study) received a paltry $8/hour. I had a part-time teaching job, not an assistantship, that paid $25/hour, but the hours fluctuated greatly according to enrollment. We didn't have any undergraduate classes to teach.

d

[JZer]

denise, how did you decide on which MA program? Did you pick a school near your parents home or did you look all over the country? I know that Purdue offers TA ships to people who are pursuing MA's in ESL and Bilingual education. Purdue will waive your tuition if you are give a teaching assistantship. I do not know what percentage of students in the ESL program receive assistantship. I just wanted to state that it is possible and in other areas of study it is the norm.

[denise]

I looked into four different programs--three in California and one in Boston. I ended up deciding on the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California because of its reputation. It's a tiny little private grad school with only four programs, so its name is not as widely known as larger schools, but it's very respected within the TESOL community. It also, unfortunately, is very pricey!

Only one of the programs has an undergraduate component, making TAships impossible. Many TESOL students work in the ESL school, though.

d

[JZer]

I have heard of the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. One girl that did her Master's at my university also had previously earned a Master's at the Monterey Institute in French Translation.

At least your post led me to what I was thinking. I am sure that not everyone can get a teaching assistantship but if you look around and only apply to schools that offer them, I think that someone who did this would have a good shot at getting one. If you only apply to schools that don't offer this type of financial support then you will be paying the tuition yourself.

So to any American who wanted to do a Master's in ESL I would suggest they look around and if you are flexible as to where you are willing to live, you might find a program in which you will get your tuition reimbursed. By doing that you will save yourself a lot of money. You can use that $20,000+ to put a downpayment on a house or travel around the world.

[Miss TESOL]

Ever since getting that MA in TESOL the doors have opened for travel and new work experiences.

Opportunities exist besides teaching as well--I'd like to get into teacher training somewhere down the road to help prepare other teachers for entering the ESL profession.

In what other career could you travel the world, meet all kinds of different people, and make a fairly decent living wage to boot?

[James_T_Kirk]

[anonymous_alaska]

Gawain,

What a wonderful post!!! Yeah, they're right, a lot of people have posted gripes about TEFL being a career, but not this well. Your post really made me re-evaluate my whole six years I spent in TEFL, in the bushibans, with the arrogants I came across, and everything else.

But although I didn't make TEFL a career and I've gone into public schooling back home, going abroad in TEFL was the first experience in my life where I met people who actually admitted our Filipino culture and society are screwed up. They didn't preface everything with "Although the Philippines is the best damn country in the world, we have to change this...". It was the first time I felt free to say this is crap and to feel that what I said was valid, or at least acknowledged and then be given an argument to think about whether what I said was true or not.

I'm proud to say the Philippines is not the best country in the world and I'm still a Filipino and you can love me or leave me. You're right, there are many TEFL losers, but there are also some of the deepest thinking people I've come across, or maybe it was just accident that I came across them, but they were people who felt there's another way. And I could finally look at my country critically and not think I was insane.

Now I'm teaching in high school and my teenagers love me because I play guitar and we sing in a mathematics class, this being my classroom management tool. That's something I would never have learned from my classroom management textbooks. In Slovakia, I learned what power a guitar, downloaded music put on a sheet of paper, and a pub have to lure people. I find ESL teachers here aren't as risk taking. The experiences made me question everything about Filipino society and really helped me clarify what is psychopathic about it and what is immeasurably great about it. I am able to think outside the box.

I think there are good TEFL jobs out there and bad ones, but it's really what you learn.

[etx]

Actually, I haven't so much, in my website, www.englishteacherx.com, spent years ranting about how English teaching is nothing but a job for drunkards and whoremongers, as talking about how the general quality of Language schools is so low that pretty much noobody is going to stick to this job other than drunkards, whoremongers and outcasts.

It's a viscous cycle. Crappy schools offer crappy conditions and crappy salaries, so end up with crappy teachers.

Nothing against the IDEA of teaching English -- it's a perfectly honorable profession. And I like it, generally. Having to deal with idiotic administration isn't fun.

But then again administration probably doesn't think dealing with us is fun either -- man, you should have seen how we trashed the school during the Christmas party. Champagne everywhere, vomit in a classroom, cigarette butts, orange peels. . . whooooo!

[JZer]

[Stephen Jones]

Dear etx,
Congrats on a fabulous site.

And congrats on the lovely phrase "a viscous cycle". Vixious, always end up back in the same place, and you're stuck to it in a fairly disgusting way.

[anonymous_alaska]

Ok, I edited my post. I apologize if it pissed you off.

[JZer]

[Gregor]

AMAZING how vociferous the gipers and whingers are. Man.
As for the poll - disagree to strongly disagree. It's very much not for everyone. Hell, it's not for about forty or so percent of the people IN it.
Works for me, though. I've got a really nice home that my wife and I are almost half finished paying for. It's NICE, too. Already worth almost half again as much as we paid for it, too.
Oh, yeah, I got a beautiful wife too.
Some jobs good, some bad, but over-all, with qualifications, experience and some good people skills, it's worked out OK.
Man, the thing is, read what these whingers have to say. They whinge about EFL, but they whinge about how bad it was at home and how hard it is to repatriate themselves and I'm pretty well convinced that they would find trouble if you just gave them money. Sure, ESL sucks, but SO DOES EVERYTHING ELSE.
I'll be 40 this year.

[donfan]

While I agree that life and ESL is what you make of it it is also a hit and miss thing. Some get lucky and get a good job, some are unlucky and get lousy jobs. I had both in my ten years of ESL teaching overseas.

I am now teaching a grade 1 class in Australia and am really happy. Teaching in America doesn't seem to have the status that teaching in Australia does. Teachers are much more highly paid in Australia. A first year teacher gets $40,000US. After five years we are on $60,000 while principals can earn as much as $80,000. There are also the added benefits. such as paid holidays, employer superannuation fund contributions and sick days which not many ESL jobs have.

I loved my time overseas and look back on it with fond memories. Sometimes I dream of going back but it would be a big backward step to do so. So in some respects I agree with the original poster. However different people want different things out of life and if they are enjoying what they are doing and are happy with their lot in life who are we to argue.

[rogerejones]

This thread is missing the point in one important way. The question should not be whether EFL (or TESOL) is a good career, but whether it is a good career CHOICE. Only each individual can anwer this.

These are my reasons for going into teaching in my 40s: a genuine interest in/talent for teaching based on years of volunteer experience; a passion for travel, and interacting directly with people while using my own emotions/intellect, instead of over a phone or simply jumping when told to jump in some office.

I gave up my primary interest, architectural history, when I went to college. It was only later, spending 8-9 years working toward an MA in art history, that I really felt I was working toward some dream. Did the degree get me a job? No. Was I able to parlay my interest into a career? Only by occasionally working as a freelance researcher/writer.

My point is, do I consider my interest, my passion, to be worthwhile? Of course. If you can combine your passions with your work life, you are fortunate. If you are teaching English and think it's a waste of time, why are you doing it? It's not that it's a bad career, it's that YOU are bringing down the standards for the rest of us.

Roger

"Do what you love, the money will follow."